TV execs start to scramble without Padres on TV

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Negotiations between Fox Sports and several TV distributors over the cost of televising Padres games are no closer to an end than when I wrote my first column on this fiasco July 5. Or my second July 14. Or my third July 22.

Or my fourth Wednesday.

But the companies are scrambling to get something done. Especially Fox Sports and Time Warner Cable, which has 200,000 San Diego County customers. Time Warner, Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are the providers whose talks with Fox have stalled like a Padres rally at Petco Park.

Of course, the something they’re scrambling to get done isn’t a deal to get the games on every TV. Time Warner is hustling to retain angry customers while Fox Sports is hurrying to form a “coalition” to keep pressure on Time Warner.

It turns out that some of the squeakiest wheels in the “Padres to the People” movement — the group of you who have taken me up on my offer to email all the companies to blame for this blackout — have been getting calls from the president’s office of Time Warner Cable as well as complimentary subscriptions to MLB Extra Innings, which shows out-of-market baseball games. Other Time Warner customers tell me they’re getting discounted bills or one-time $50 credits.

Over at Fox Sports San Diego, the brand and its public relations firm, Southwest Strategies, are a bit preoccupied with something other than negotiations, too.

The firm contacted fed up Padres fan Scott Sibley, who emailed this: “Their goal is to start gathering people to be included on a message sent to Time Warner about this coalition being built. … They also plan on coming up with a name for the coalition, starting a website, having a news conference, having me go on FSSD programming, etc.”

Meanwhile, AT&T will only say talks continue. It isn’t much, but it’s still a lot more than the reply I didn’t receive from Dish Network.

Makes one wish that the talks really were continuing with all parties. Sadly, 10 days after our “Padres to the People” rally drew 150 irate baseball fans, it seems these companies’ officials are talking to everyone but each other about airing the team’s games.

Almost daily since the rally, fans have been channeling the anger and frustration of the 40 percent of the county who can’t catch the team on TV by emailing Padres and media company executives repeatedly.

I’ve been copied on scores and scores of fans’ emails since July 22.

Here are three.

Judi Graham: “As frustrated as I am that I cannot watch my Padres on TV, I am more frustrated that all of you are treating a portion of the fan base with disrespect and disinterest.”

Matt Schulte: “This community deserves better than the corporate struggle that the decision makers are using to hold so many fans hostage. Having the Padres on television is what builds and maintains a fan base. … I hope that the Padres demand that a deal gets done soon so that the community can follow what is a community asset.”

Dick Circuit: “I have lost interest in the Padres because I cannot follow them anymore. … I will not be renewing our 4 season tickets.”

Way to go, Dick. I’m not calling for any boycott yet, but that’s an option for disgruntled fans. We can make decisions about money, too.

•••

I also wanted to update everyone on another column subject while I’m at it: A city of San Diego work crew removed the ghost bike on Montezuma Road about two weeks after an official said it would stay.

City spokesman Bill Harris said the white-painted bike, a memorial to bicyclist Charles Gilbreth chained to a city street sign, was removed July 24, four days after I wrote about the effort to preserve it.

“The direction is pretty clear,” Harris said. “They do have to come down when they’re attached to city infrastructure. … We’re not targeting ghost bikes per se. We’re sympathetic to recognition of the tragedy, but in the end we do have to maintain a consistent policy.”

The bike now waits, something ghosts and Padres fans alike are used to doing, at the city’s Chollas Heights operations yard.